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How to Negotiate Your Salary Once You Have the Job Offer - Forbes

6/26/2014

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by Susan Adams, Forbes staff writer


Longtime New York career coach Ellis Chase’s client had just gotten an offer for a great job as an analyst at a hedge fund, and she’d been successful in staving off any discussion of base salary or bonus up to that point. Chase had coached her in this tactic. You want the employer to fall in love with you before you start talking numbers, he says. That way you’re in a much better negotiating position.

But the next step Chase says you should take in the process is counter-intuitive: don’t talk salary yet. “When you get the actual offer, you’re in no emotional shape to negotiate,” he says. “All you’re thinking about is that you got the offer and you just want to lock it up.” A lot of people are afraid that if they ask for more time, the hiring manager will rescind the opportunity. But that doesn’t happen 99% of the time, he says. What you should say: “I’m thrilled you want to hire me. Could you just give me a couple of days to think about it?”

Then, Chase says, it’s time to do as much research as possible on how much the company pays for that position and to draw up a list of things that matter to you, including your scope of responsibilities, base salary, bonus, frequency of reviews, 401(k) match, vacation time, technology you’ll be using, even where you’ll sit. Go into the next meeting with a pad and pen and say, I hope you don’t mind if I take notes. That will signify how serious you are and ensure that you have a record of what you agree upon.

Though she was very reluctant to take Chase’s advice, his hedge fund client asked for more time and got it. Still, she was terribly nervous that the employer would take back the offer.  “She was a mess,” says Chase, who wrote a book called In Search of the Fun-Forever Job: Career Strategies That Work, that includes a chapter on negotiating salary.

Then he helped her draw up a list of priorities. His advice: Make the first question an easy one, like, when can I get into the 401(k) match. The answer will always be six months, he says, but that softball question will put the hiring manager at ease. Next ask another easy question. The client chose to ask about her reporting relationships.

Then the third question should be about your top priority. This client cared most about her bonus. The offer had been presented as though the bonus was entirely discretionary and she wanted something more concrete: Did it depend on how her group performed, on her individual achievements, whether she hit certain benchmarks? To her delight, the hiring manager said, “I’m glad you asked that,” and gave her specifics.

Then for the fourth question, Chase coached her to ask another easy one.  She asked whether she could use a Macintosh rather than a PC.

The fifth question, Chase says, should be another tough one. For the client, it was base salary. Chase says that at hedge funds, the base is rarely negotiated because the bonus is what’s important, but he coached her to try to get the employer to go higher than his initial offer. The employer said $150,000 and she asked, could we do any better than that. He said he could make it $155,000. She was thrilled.

Throughout the salary negotiation, Chase advises clients to imagine that they are still in a job interview. “When you’re trying to get the base salary up, resell yourself,” he advises. Remind the employer that you have eight years of experience plus a master’s degree and why you are worth more in the market. All hiring managers expect candidates to try to get more money, he says, and they are almost always prepared to go higher than the initial offer. You just have to ask.



Read the article on Forbes.com

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Should You Bring Up Salary in a Job Interview - Forbes

6/24/2014

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by Susan Adams, Forbes Staff Writer 

I was intrigued last week when I received the results of a survey from the giant Menlo Park-based staffing agency Robert Half, saying that more than three quarters of hiring managers think it’s appropriate for job candidates to ask about compensation and benefits in the initial phone screening or first two job interviews. I’ve written at least three stories saying it’s best for job seekers to put off salary negotiations until an offer is on the table. Was I wrong?

Paul McDonald, a senior executive director at Robert Half, says, “In this market, with 1% or 2% unemployment for some jobs, employers want to get to this business quickly. They want to see if there’s a good fit and they’re OK with the candidate bringing up the salary in order to be efficient with time.” Conversely, he says, applicants should be ready to answer questions about salary early in the process. “We believe honesty is the best policy,” he says.” If someone asks what has been your salary in the past three positions, we coach the applicant to be prepared for that.” The firm surveyed 300 hiring managers by phone in December 2013.

Has something changed in salary negotiation strategy since I first wrote about the topic two years ago? To answer that question I turned to three of my best career coach sources and to Heidi Ellingson, senior director of employment services at Middleton, WI-based Spectrum Brands, a diversified consumer products company with 13,500 employees worldwide, which makes everything from Rayovac batteries to George Foreman grills. She doesn’t recommend that candidates bring up the subject but instead she has her own staff raise salary in the very first phone screening. “We want to make sure we’re in the right ballpark,” she says. Frequently candidates don’t want to reveal either their salary or what they hope to earn, in which case Ellison’s team tries at least to get a range. “We don’t want to waste people’s time if we’re $20,000 apart,” she says.

Have I been giving my readers bad advice? In a word, no. The job of staffing firms like Robert Half is to screen candidates for employers so they can present the most viable candidates, and hiring managers have an incentive to get candidates to name a number early in the process. But from the candidate’s perspective, especially if you are negotiating for a managerial or executive position, it’s best to avoid saying anything specific about salary until a job offer is on the table.

“It’s like saying on a first date, ‘how many kids do you want,’” says Roy Cohen, a longtime coach and author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide.Sarah Stamboulie, a coach who previously worked in human resources at Cantor Fitzgerald, Morgan Stanley and Nortel Networks, agrees. “You don’t want to be negotiating salary until they’re at their maximum love—their maximum enthusiasm for you,” she says. Once a prospective employer has convinced themself and their colleagues that you are their first choice, they are much more likely to bump up your package in order to get you.

Longtime coach Ellis Chase, author of The Fun Forever Job: Career Strategies that Work, agrees with Cohen and Stamboulie and lays out four reasons naming a salary is a bad idea: 1) If you come in very low, the potential employer won’t take you seriously, 2) If you come in low the employer will think they can pay you less than they had planned to offer, 3) You price yourself out of the running, and 4) Even if you fall in the right range, you may not realize that the job comes with more responsibilities than you had thought and now you’ve ruined your negotiating stance.

There are a couple of exceptions however. Stamboulie has worked with young up-and-comers at top consulting firms who have gotten multiple offers from employers who might not know the candidates want to make at least, say, $150,000. The fact that they don’t need to accept any of the offers puts them in a strong position, especially if they know they want to shoot high.

The other reason would be if you’re a superstar, you’re happy where you are and you’d only leave for a certain number. A third reason could be if you’re talking to a small startup where it’s tough to glean ahead of time what the salary range would be. Then you might want to name what Stamboulie calls an “anchor number” that will help the firm know what you think you’re worth.

What if the hiring manager or decision maker asks you what you make? That’s a tougher question. Chase says you should rarely volunteer a number and instead counter with a line like, “I’m very interested in this position but I would hate for a dollar figure to eliminate me from consideration because if there’s a fit, I’m sure we’ll be able to work it out.” If that doesn’t work, you could try, “Could you give me an idea of your range?” The goal, as I’ve written before, is to wait for the offer and then to get the decision-maker to be the first to name a number. If the hiring manager becomes visibly annoyed, says Chase, then you have to relent, but it’s always better to give a range, rather than a precise figure.

Cohen agrees. “A lot of hedge funds will bring it up. They’ll say what are you earning and what are you looking for. If you don’t give them some sort of benchmark you’ll look like you’re trying to tap dance around it.”

One of Cohen’s Wall Street trader clients can’t hold himself back. “He won’t do his homework,” says Cohen. “He’ll go into an interview and say, ‘I want to know what this job pays, I want to know the base, I want to know the formula, I want to know what cash I’ll get at the end of the year.’” According to Cohen, this candidate has blown three or four opportunities in the first interview. “When the market was stronger, they would tolerate this sort of thing,” he says. “But now he’s shooting himself in the foot.”

The folks at Robert Half may be right about the preferences of recruiters and HR managers, but it’s always best to try to bypass those gate keepers and go straight to the person who will make the ultimate decision about whether you get the job.

Read the article on Forbes website. 

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4 Ways to Improve Your Success in a Long Distance Job Search

3/28/2014

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I often hear from people who want to relocate--some want to stay in the same field, others are looking for a career change--but can’t figure out how to expedite a long distance job search.
Their questions are usually along the lines of:
  • How can I keep my current job and still search somewhere else?
  • Is an out-of-area address an immediate rejection?  
  • How do I network in a place where I don’t yet know anyone?

Conducting a job search long distance isn’t easy. But often clients go about it in some low probability ways--sending out resumes before they're requested, asking for leads before laying the ground work. When they don't get immediate results, their frustration can create a problem all by itself. They lose perspective. They want this whole thing to end fast, and end NOW. But like any job search, it's still going to be a process, when you do it right. And it’s a lot of work. 

The following four points can help improve your odds at landing a job in a new location.  

1. The Out-of-State Address
First, let's get rid of that address problem. It’s true that adding the possible relocation expense might be a problem for a prospective employer – although you will try to negotiate that when you get an offer. 

Many of the people I've worked with have, as a matter of course, dropped addresses from resumes. It seems to be a trend among younger members of the job force. An email address seems to be enough. A telephone number with an out-of-state area code doesn't seem to be a problem anymore; people take their cell numbers with them everywhere they move. So . . . no home address necessary.

2. Understand Networking
Second, you need to fully understand what networking is. It is not just asking everyone you know if they know of openings or jobs. That's a sure-fire way of scaring them off, because people feel guilty when they have to say, "No, not at this moment." And that means you've burned through a contact, making it difficult to stay in touch.

Networking is all about maintaining relationships over a period of time, a form of indirect marketing-–not cornering your valuable connections and pressuring them into a yes/no answer (usually no).

The point is to build business relationships, maintain them by staying in touch, so that when your contacts hear of appropriate situations, you’re on their mind. That's how the vast majority of people find jobs, either by circumstance or by design.  

3. Set Up Phone Meetings
Since you can't be constantly traveling to your intended destination, you set up phone meetings instead of in-person meetings. They may be a little less effective than personally meeting others, but if you cultivate the relationships through following up regularly, you can make that relationship work.

In addition, if you find some of your targeted people are amenable, you might say to several that you will be in the area during the week of ____________, and hope that you could meet them in person. Believe it or not, this works better, most of the time, than asking someone in your home area for a more open-ended time slot.  

4. Use LinkedIn
For building networks in an area where you don't know many in your profession -- try LinkedIn groups. Assuming your profile is up-to-date and promotes your skill set well, look under "Interests" on the top of the home page. There is a subset called "Groups." Then, look for affinity groups. Punch in your field and see what comes up. Maybe a professional group you’ve already joined. Maybe 10 others that are related. Maybe one in your intended geographical area. Join. Get involved in the online conversations. If someone sounds interesting and knowledgeable, try to link in (with a personal invitation, not the LinkedIn template). If he/she responds, then perhaps you write a skillful introductory (brief) email requesting a short conversation because you're researching the market in their area and want to learn more about it.  

It always comes back to: Technique, Discipline and Consistency
This is just a beginning. Clearly, there's much more you can do. I can think of a recently published book (mine!) you might read which will thoroughly take you through the process -- In Search of the Fun-Forever Job: Career Strategies That Work, on Amazon.

Looking for work long distance is eminently doable, even with the tough market conditions. Great search technique, coupled with discipline and consistency, will usually trump the difficult market

Or pick up a copy of Networking: How to Make the Connections You Need to get the short course on how to make the contacts that lead to the job you want.

Photo: wojciech_gajda


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10 Stupid Interview Questions And How To Answer Them - Forbes

3/13/2014

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by Susan Adams Forbes Staff

Ellis Chase has been in the career and staffing business for 35 years, first in the human resources department at what was then Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, then as a managing director at staffing firm Right Management and now as an independent career and executive coach. He does workshops for Columbia Business School’s MBA career office and he’s just published a book, In Search of the Fun-Forever Job: Career Strategies That Work.

Over the years he’s conducted numerous job interviews and he’s coached hundreds of clients on how to prepare and succeed in interviews, and debriefed them after the fact.  Along the way he’s formed some strong opinions about questions he deems stupid. “Any negative questions are trap questions,” he insists. “If you answer them in a straightforward way you can dig a deep hole for yourself.” Beyond negative questions, he’s also compiled a list of queries that he calls “flat out dumb, stupid questions, or what I call ‘college entrance questions.’” The problem is that interviewers ask them of 42-year-old midcareer professionals.

For the negative questions, like “where have you had trouble at work,” he recommends telling a story about a challenge you’ve had in the past and how you overcame it. For silly questions, he says chuckling and then saying you don’t have an immediate answer, is often the best way to go.

I asked Chase to lay out a list of stupid questions and to share his wisdom about how job candidates can best answer them. Here are 10 questions that interviewers have asked and the answers he recommends. Three of them are negative questions and the rest are questions he calls just plain stupid.

1. What don’t you like about your work?
Try saying, “I don’t love it when I’m hit with a lot of unexpected assignments when I’m already feeling deluged.” Then talk about how you’ve developed time-management and prioritization skills and how that’s helped you handle assignment overload. You’ve learned how to keep yourself from panicking and how to prevent multiple deadlines from distracting you. You’ve also learned that it’s important to get on top of new work as quickly as possible before it’s had a chance to stymie you.

2. What do you dread about work?
The long, boring weekly staff meeting that will take you away from getting work done. But you’ve learned to grin and bear it and also to accept that this is the price you pay to work for a great organization. When it’s your turn to speak, you’ve learned to describe in concise detail the project you’re working on. You’ve found that when you make your presentation compelling and quick, others in the meeting follow suit. You’ve also learned that if you perform well in the meeting, it can help your department become more visible. And even though other people can be long-winded, you’ve discovered that you can glean valuable information about what’s going on in the rest of the company.

3. Describe a tough period in your career.
Talk about a time you were hit with a brand new technology at the office shortly after mastering the old one. At first you balked but then you realized that there was no going back and you’d better get up to speed quickly. You’ve learned whom to talk to, what to read and what resources to tap.

4.  If you had the opportunity, what historical figure would you invite to dinner?
Name legendary figures from your industry. If it’s financial services or anything related to investing, you can say, you know he’s still alive but you’d love to have dinner with Warren Buffett and talk to him about value investing. You could also say you wish you could have dined with David Rockefeller or Walter Wriston, the former CEO of Citicorp who helped save New York City from financial collapse in the 1970s. If you work in tech, say Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. These may seem like obvious answers but do stick to your field to show that’s where your passion lies. Don’t pick a historical figure from left field even if you really would be interested in meeting that person. Stay focused on the job you want.

5. What was your first love?
Chase swears this was a question one of his C-level clients fielded in a recent interview. She worked in consumer packaged goods so she talked about how, when she was in her 20s, she had a junior job on a marketing campaign and she realized she was absolutely thrilled with the challenge of coming up with a marketing concept and trying to make the product more appealing. She framed her first love as falling in love with her profession.

6. Do you think size really matters?
Again, Chase insists an interviewer asked this question. The context was a project where three universities of different sizes were working together and the job was on the joint project. Chase says his client handled the question beautifully, first laughing and then saying she would need to know more about the dynamics of the three people representing the universities, whether they were already working together well and how they were communicating. The consulting firm McKinsey is famed for asking what are known as “case study” questions like, “how many tennis balls can fit in a plane?” The best way to answer is by talking about what you would need to know in order to find the answer.

7. Are you planning to have children?
Employers should know better than to ask a question like this because it skates close to a federal law prohibiting job discrimination against pregnant women. But they still ask. Correct answer: “Not at the moment.” If you already have kids, make it clear that you have child care, including backup arrangements. If you are pregnant but not showing, Chase recommends being honest in a pre-emptive way by saying you plan to work until the very last second, you are in excellent health, you will take the minimum amount of time off and that you have already started to set up several layers of child care. (I wish the American workplace were set up in a more humane way for new parents, with extended paid leave and subsidized on-site childcare, but I concede Chase’s wisdom.)

8. Are you going to get married?
Yes, employers ask this question too, and they seem only to ask women. Correct answer: “If the right guy comes along.”

9. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Like the negative questions about what you hate about your job, Chase says that honestly eanswering this question can be a trap. Do not say you want to do this for two or three years and then become a consultant or that you’d like the interviewer’s job. Instead, says Chase, say “this job combines all the skills I’ve learned to date and I want to grow in it. I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”

10. What’s the color of success?
This is another hard-to-believe-they-ask-this question, but Ellis swears it has come up repeatedly. Correct answers: Green, the color of money, because it would mean our business is highly profitable. Or if you’re interviewing at a nonprofit or marketing firm you could say, red, because we want to make an impact.

Read Susan Adams's article on Forbes

Get a copy of Ellis's new book. Networking: How to Make the Connections You Need


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    Ellis Chase

    Ellis Chase is one of Manhattan's top career management consultants and executive coaches.

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